Boat is an 18 yr old, 50' , cored hull, balsa deck. I have read 'Jeff's' excellent comments on construction, cored etc. It would seem that tapping out hollow / non binding spots is about all you can do and especially around thru hull fits. A keen and experienced ear is required. Any ideas ? Any other suggestions ? TIA. Paul

Is the hull cored below the waterline, or just the topsides? If cored below the waterline, did the leave solid laminate in place for the through hulls? If not solid laminate in the area of the through hulls, did they at least seal the core in those areas with epoxy?

It would probably be wise to say what kind of boat it is... as many boats have known problem areas that you need to watch out for. Say it is an 18 year old, 50' boat is pretty generic....

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Telstar 28
New England

You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.

—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)

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Thanks for the response sailingdog. The answer is I don't know the details of the construction but I will next week when I get to it. I trust you will give me some of your good advice then. I'm sortoff semi aware of the problems associated with water ingress into the foam and balsa in the deck. I'm also very concerned about repaired hurricane damaged boats altho this one was certainly out of the katrina area, there were plenty before that. I'm going to take the liberty of sending you an email.

Gurk, there are "moisture meters" sold to check for internal moisture in wood, concrete slabs, and cored fiberglass hulls. Each type has a slightly different range and probe tips but that's what a professional surveyor uses to determine moisture in a hull/deck. Probably $300-400 to buy one, which is why using a hard rubber tap hammer is still so common. Walking BAREFOOT on a deck, you can often feel a change in the springiness if there's a problem underfoot. Bare hands also work (have you eer tried to locate a stud in a plasterboard wall? but on a large deck, the tap hammer can save some raw fingertips.

The folks at West System Epoxy have a lot of free technical material available on their web site, and they are also generous about answering question on the phone, regarding what materials, processes, etc. you need to do proper repairs. They make good stuff, too.

Many thanks jared for your comments, especially relevant to a cored hull that maybe subject to 'moisture creep'. Yes, I appreciate your comments on stud walls and decks. Highly relevant. I intend to follow the surveyor around with my own hammer, I can't afford to make any mistakes here. Paul

I'd also recommend that you hire your own surveyor, not use one recommended by the seller or broker.

Is the boat USCG documented? Documented boats are easier to trace the history of.

Certain brands have a history of problems with the cores getting wet, especially in the case of teak decked boats. The cause in the case of teak-decked boats is usually the screws letting water enter the core.

What material is the core? End-grain balsa is pretty resilient to rot and doesn't really allow moisture to migrate. Marine plywood fares worse than balsa generally. The PVC-based foams will allow moisture to migrate but won't rot. There are a few other core materials, but the ones I've mentioned are the most common.

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Telstar 28
New England

You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.

—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)

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Yes I'm aware of this issue and in fact there are whole production runs with this problem and especially the make I'm looking at. This example has a glass deck. One I looked at earlier had stained linings below from exactly this problem. I don't favor teak decks because of the fixing problem and the fact they are too hot in the tropics. Maintaining them is another issue and anyone who has caulked a teak deck probably never orders another one.

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